AJC: Atlantans Will Pay for Transportation Fixes, But There’s No Trust
Decatur Metro | December 10, 2012
A new, interesting poll out this morning from the AJC for anyone who’s sat on a front stoop and lamented/championed Atlanta residents’ lack of willingness to address the metro region’s transportation problem. Among the more intriguing findings from the fishwrap…
- Nearly two-thirds, 64 percent, would pay a new fee or tax to create well designed public transit options that would benefit the region.
- Sixty-eight percent of Cobb and Gwinnett respondents supported “strongly or somewhat” expanding train service beyond Fulton and DeKalb; 39 percent supported it strongly. Only 22 percent in Cobb and Gwinnett opposed it strongly.
- …more than 70 percent of Fulton and DeKalb respondents would pay more for roads.
What’s the problem then and why did T-SPLOST go down in a blaze of touch-screen glory? Trust, according to the poll. But why the lack of trust and how can political figures regain it? Well the poll provides answers to those questions too! Check it out.
The-Transportation-pic-that-just-keeps-on-giving courtesy of Chad!
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The broken promise regarding the 400 tolls cost T-SPLOST a lot of votes, IMHO.
+1
Even if that re-imposition had been handled gracefully, advertising any SPLOST as temporary runs contrary to experience.
That is true. It is now evident that ESPLOST is intended to be permanent and TSPLOST bore all the same marks of bait and switch. In fact, it was even worse. The rosy assumptions and pitiful disclosure about cost projections all but guaranteed that TSPLOST I was just the sequel to TSPLOST II, The Search for More of Your Money. It’s not hard to understand the rampant distrust when the pols won’t even tell the truth about the programs they want the voters to approve. They’ve gotten away with ESPLOST but, thankfully, voters drew the line there, at least for now.
If there is no trust now, there will never be. Or it will take years and years to build. Meanwhile our lungs and eyes will continue to be subjected to the squalor of traffic jams and hideousness of urban sprawl. More people in thier ugly automobiles stuck in stacks of traffic (multiple autos in traffic look like piles of garbage from a distance) acting more angry, more impatient, more frustrated. Its all unfolding like a dark sci fi movie.
I wish there was a way to get around the region and focus on the local…like first fixing transit inside the perimeter (ITP), working with ITP citizens only, and then moving outwards rathering than all in one fell swoop. ITP has alot of potential but it feels like we are always held hostage by the suburban sprawl people that seem to have such a vastly different mentality/woldview in general.
Calling Lyrics Only Guy …
“Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race.”
— The Police
Oh the Drama!
As I recall, 30 -50 years ago the popular dystopia was one of urban blight and degeneration. Cities themselves were the source of crime and incubators of all things evil. But lo! The automobile freed people from the smog, overcrowding and societal anxiety of city living.
Now cities and mass transit are once again the shining exemplar, the paragon of civic virtue, and “angry…frustrated” commuters are the harbingers of doom.
I’ll wait it out – the circle will turn and my car will be cool again.